Card controlled machine



April 9, 1935. sc K 1,997,157

CARD CONTROLLED MACHINE Original Filed Oct. 31, 1929 INVENTOR.

Patented Apr. 9, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CARD CONTROLLEDMACHINE Gustav Tauschek, New York, N. Y., assignor, by mesneassignments, to International Business Machines Corporation, New York,N. Y., a corporation of New York 7 Claims.

The present invention relates, particularly, to improvements inelectrical arrangements for analyzing members provided with controllingindex points, such members being composed of cards, or the like, and areemployed for controlling the operation of devices in record controlledmachines used for statistical and bookkeeping purposes.

This application is a division of the co-pending application, Serial No.403,854, filed Oct. 31, 1929.

The object of the invention is to apply to a card or plate, ofinsulating material, designations having the same electrical propertybut varying in value so as to represent different digits.

More specifically it is an object of the invention to designate thedifferent digits on a tabulating card by metallic elements havingdifferent values of electrical resistance, each of such metallicelements being carried by the tabulating card of insulating material andadapted to be analyzed by electrical devices so as to represent thedigital value by a suitable electrical measuring instrument.

The above objects are attained by means hereinafter described andillustrated in the accompanying drawing in which there is shown atabulating card provided with several designations of the type describedand correlated with electrical analyzing devices.

At the index point positions in which the designations are to be madethere are impressed electrical conducting bodies l8, in a card I orstrip of insulating material.

In order to characterize the value of the designations the metallicbodies 18 have different electrical resistances corresponding to thedigital value to be designated. The designation of the numeral I" issecured, for example, by a body consisting of a metal alloy l8 having ahigh electrical resistance, the numeral 2" by a metal alloy which has anelectrical resistance of a lesser value, and so on, up to thedesignation representing the numeral "9 which has the lowest electricalresistance.

When a card I, prepared in this manner, isbrought between an electricalconducting sensing element 2 and an electrical conducting support 3, acurrent is caused to flow through a circuit which includes the sensingelement 2 and the metallic body it which is analyzed to aiiect aproportional deflection of a pointer of a conventional ammeter 6electrically connected in the same circuit. It will be understood thatthe extent of the deflection of the pointer of the ammeter 6 isproportional to the conductivity of the body i8 in electrical contactwith the sensing element 2.

I claim:

1. A tabulating card carrying a series of metallic elements of varyinginherent electrical conductivities insulated from each other and adaptedto control the magnitude of current in an electric circuit.

2. A tabulating card having embedded therein, insulated from each other,metallic elements of graduated electrical conductivities and adapted tocontrol the magnitude of current in an electric circuit.

3. A tabulating card of electrically non-conducting material andcarrying spaced elements of different alloys, the electricalconductivity of each controlling the amount of current in an electriccircuit.

4. A tabulating card of electrically non-conducting material carrying ametallic element the inherent electrical resistance of which is of avalue according to a character it represents.

5. The combination of a tabulating card containing metallic elementsinsulated from each other and of graduated electrical conductivities,and electrical analyzing means including a pair of contact devices foranalyzing one of said elements for determining the extent of currentflow governed by said element.

6. The combination of a tabulating card containing metallic elementsinsulated from each other and of alloys having different electricalconductivities, and electrical analyzing means including a base platecontacting all of said elements for analyzing said elements fordetermining the extent of current flow governed by said elements.

7 The combination of a tabulatlng card having embedded therein,insulated from each other, metallic elements of different electricalconductivities to represent different characters,- and electricalanalyzing means including a single element electrically contacting thesurface of a related one of the elements for determining the extent ofcurrent flow in its associated circuit.

GUSTAV TAUSCHEK.

